Senran Kagura Burst Review: Schoolgirl romp

You have to hand it to XSEED. They tend to localize games one would never think would make it to the States, Senran Kagura Burst included. Get ready to kick ass and watch those jiggle physics in action. Yep, it's that kind of game.

War of the clans

SKB will have you pick from two storylines, each with different characters. After selecting the Hanzo or Hebijo school, you'll be taken through a myriad of missions that task you to step in the shoes of many busty anime schoolgirls, slashing anything and everything you see on screen.

While each girl does look different from one another, you won't find much difference in combat, since it all boils down to a relatively simple button masher.

When taking damage from enemies, your chosen character will slowly start to lose her clothes until all she's wearing are shreds covering her lady bits. It never goes into NSFW territory, but if you're weirded out by scantily clad busty anime chicks, SKB might not be for you.

Even the dialogue tends to venture into groan-inducing territory, but it's all in good fun. For instance, one of the earlier missions tasked me with recovering a girl's missing scroll. When you do find it, you tell her that she needs to squeeze her boobs together more so it doesn't fall out anymore. Yep. Luckily, if anyone is listening to you play this game, they won't understand any of it since the voiceovers are completely in Japanese. Whew, bullet dodged there.

A rewarding combat system, despite its button mashing nature

The game does allow itself to be taken a bit more seriously combat wise if you learn its intricacies. Outside of a relatively large list of combos for each character composed of both standard and heavy attacks, you can also chain your attacks with a pretty awesome combo system.

When you're unleashing a barrage of attacks, you'll see a green circle at the very end of the combo. When you see this, you can continue the combo by juggling them in the air, and then further combo the attack with another pursuit that ends with a powerful slam. It's all flashy and looks really cool.

If you're a fan of Sailor Moon style transformation with a dose of bikini action, you'll love the transformations here. Every girl has the ability to go Super by pushing a button, which will start a rather awesome sequence of stripping her down to a tiny bikini or swimsuit, and then getting a whole new outfit and powered up moves.

Let's play dress-up

If there's anything I learned from Dead or Alive Beach Volleyball, it's that if you're given a large cast of busty girls to play with, you will have the opportunity to unlock various outfits and accessories to adorn them with, and that holds especially true for Senran Kagura Burst.

Every mission yields some sort of reward that allows you change up the character's appearance. You can customize everything from their regular clothes to Super outfits, as well as the bikini during the transformation sequence. If you're a fan of making your characters look different on a very regular basis, you'll find a lot to love here.

Also, if you're the type to get to know your ninja school cast a little better, you have the option to read through their bios, and even get their measurements. That's right, in a totally non-creepy manner, you can find out just how big your favorite ninja's bust size is.

Gorgeous anime visuals abound

Senran Kagura Burst is a really good looking game as far as the 3DS goes. The character models especially are absolutely fantastic. However, the game does suffer from some framerate issues on a fairly consistent basis, mostly because the screen can get crowded with a lot of enemies. For that reason, the game automatically disables 3D mode when on missions. The only time you'll ogle at these busty beauties in 3D is in the classroom.

The bosom line

If you like your anime chicks badass with a healthy dose of jiggle physics, Senran Kagura Burst satisfies on those levels and more. However, be prepared for some painful framerate dips. If you can overlook that, you'll find that despite its button mashing nature, you'll have a good time beating up hordes of enemies.